Morning links — and an Open Thread

This morning, I found a goldmine of interesting stuff at National Review Online.  There was some other good stuff that bipped on my radar, so I’m sharing it here.

King Hussein of Jordan was, from all reports, a decent man, not just by Arab King standards, but by any standards.  It looks as if his heir, King Abdullah, is cut from the same cloth.  One wonders if anyone in the Muslim Middle East is listening.

VDH has a great article reminding us that, despite 10 years of Leftist propaganda, the Bush administration had rational reasons for invading Iraq.

Birthers are now going after Ted Cruz, saying that his birth in Canada to an American mother isn’t enough to make him American-born.  Putting aside that this is incorrect (although it may not qualify him as a “natural born” citizen), what’s worse is that people are trying to compare his birth to Obama’s birth.  Although I’ve never fallen hard into the birther category, let me say that there is a vast difference between a situation in which the circumstances of a man’s birth are an open record and a situation in which a man does everything he can to hide the circumstances of Obama’s birth.

Yes, says Thomas Sowell, Cyprus can happen here.

Dennis Prager rips American universities a new one — and deservedly so.

Nooo!  The Blue Angels have been canceled.  The political class in Washington is punishing Americans.

The Koch Brothers may purchase the L.A. Times.  Wouldn’t that be a dream come true?

And finally, Keith Koffler on precisely why Beyonce’s newest song isn’t just terrible, it’s also a window into the horrible people who are currently renting (and trashing) the People’s White House.